Applicator for facial creams



Dec. 11, 1945. J w CLARK 2,390,921

} APPLICATOR FOR FACIAL CREAMS Filed March 23,, 1945 Jb/znW ClarkPatented Dec. 11, 1945 APPLICATOR FOR FACIAL CREAMS John W. Clark,Washington, D. C., assignor of one-third to Ethel Hudson Clark,Washington, s D. C.

OFFICE Application March 2a, 1943, Serial No. 480,240

lclaim. (01.15-104) This invention relates to applicators and massagedevices, intended particularly for the application of face creams, itbeing here disclosed as used in connection with shaving cream.

of the cream from the pockets, as would be the case if-grooves orcontinuous channels were used. A portion of the pocketed-and ridgedsurfaceis shown, it being understood that this configuration extendsover the entire surface of the cupped It has for its purpose to providean applicator 5 portion of the pa t Will be seen that the to which thecream can be applied and retained rubbing surface of the pad isrelatively smooth during manipulation of the device, so as to inas theshallow pockets II and the slight ridges sure not only completeapplication of the cream, I? do ot p e e t an p y interrupted su butalso, when used with shaving creams, to effect face or any depressionsor upstanding portions the softening and straightening of the beard.which break up the rubbing surface or inter- Several forms of the deviceare shown, all fere in any way with the uniform flexibility of of whichinvolve the same general principle, difthe bad Thi is imp r nt in V w fth f t fering only in mechanical detail. that th pad must be of uniformcontour and In the drawing: flexibily m-anipulable so as to conform tothe Figure 1 is a view in plan of one form of pad. face in applying thecream.

Figure 1a is an enlarged view in plan of a por- As is recognized, thebeard ordinarily grows in tion of the pad showing the rubbing surface. agenerally downward direction, and in using the Figure lb is an enlargedsectional view of the applicator the massagin or rubbing will be pad .toillustrate the rubbing surface shown in against the beard growth,whether that be down- Figure 1a. wardly, or, as in some cases, indifferent direc- Figure 2 is a sectional view on substantially tions soas to straighten the beard and bring it the line 22 of Figure 1, lookingin the direction to a proper upstanding position.

of the arrows. Means for manipulating the pad are provided,

Figure 3 is a sectional view on substantially these means differing inthe several forms. The the line 3-3 of Figure 1, looking in thedirection form show in Figures 1, 2, and 3, is provided of the arrows.with manual gripping means I3 at the upper edge In the form of theinvention shown in Figures of the pad, so that the user can hold the ex-1, 1a, 1b, 2, and 3, a pad 10 is provided which tended gripping means inhis fingers and move is made of any suitable material, such as rubber,th pad In over the face, Said gripping means flexible plastic material,or the like, which is I3 is here shown as having a slightly enlargedsemi-flexible, so that in use, it can be flexed under edge portion togive a good finger hold. finger pressure to the contour of the face, butTo further guard against escape of creams which will be of sulficientrigidity and resiliency from the cup-shaped, pocketed, and ridged pad toretain and return to its original form after Hi, I provide an upstandingprojection or rib l4 use. The pad Ii) is in the form of a shallow at thlower edge of the pad so that on movecup and is of sufiicient rigidityto maintain norment of the pad over the face, excess cream mally acup-like form, the transverse arc of the escaping from the pockets IIwill back against cup being preferably somewhat less than that of thisrib M and prevent too easy a flow of the its longitudinal arc, as thisgives a surface easily cream from the pad. The rib l4, it will be seen,conformable to the face. The surface of the cup is thickened so as togive it greater rigidity will be pitted or provided with individual,septhan the semi-flexible pad, and the rib does not arated pockets H,which will receive and retain yield as readily during manipulation ofthe pad the cream deposited thereon and minimize its so as to preventthe escape of cream over the escape of flow from the edges of the pad,while lower edge toward which the cream naturally retaining the cream insufficient volume to insure flows when the padismanipulated. completeand thorough application to the face. It will be observed that thesemi-flexible pad Ridges [2 are disposed between the pits or pocketswhich, as stated, is of cup-like form, is of such and serve to engagethe beard in the application character that in use it may be manipulatedby of the cream and straighten the beard growth so r grasping the manualmanipulating means shown as to bring it into proper shaving position.The and described and applying the fingers to the ridges l2 are disposedat short angles or in zigback of the pad, massaging of the face andbeard zag relation to one another, so as to provide a softening may bereadily accomplished, the pad suitable rubbing surface which will engagethe yielding under manipulation of the fingers so as beard and, further,minimize flowing and escape to adjust itself to the contours of the faceand insure complete and elfective straightening of the beard andapplication of the cream. Only a minimum amount of cream is necessarybecause the cup-shaped form and the pocketed surfaces retard the flowingor escape of cream, which occurs where continuous grooves or channelsare used, and waste of cream is avoided. Further, the ridges, disposedin zig-zag relation on the rubbing surfaces and which ridges define thepits or pockets, are very effective in picking up of the beard andstraightening it during application of the cream so as to bring thebeard to a proper standing position for shaving.

While I have shown and describedthe invention particularly as being usedin connection with shaving creams, it will be understood that it may beutilized in connection with the application of any facial or massagingcreams or lotions.

I claim: 7

An applicator for facial creams comprisin a semi-flexible pad having aconcave rubbing face for retaining the cream deposited thereon, said padbeing provided with spaced longitudinally extending lower and upperedges, the transverse arc of the concave face being of shorter radiusthan that of its longitudinal are so as to conform to the face of theuser, said concave face having a relatively smooth rubbing surface ofsubstantially uniform contour made up of alternate closed shallowpockets to receive the cream and slight ridges uniformly distributedover the rubbing surface, the ridges being disposed to provide zig-zagbeard-engaging and straightening means, a thickened cream overflowretaining rib at the lower longitudinal edge of said pad, said rib beingof greater rigidity than the remaining portion of the pad so as not toyield as readily during manipulation and shaped to prevent the escape ofcream over the lower longitudinal edge towards which the cream flowswhen the pad is manipulated, and means extending outwardly from theupper longitudinal edge of the pad for 20 manually operating the same.

JOHN W. CLARK.

